Francis Wade | Inspired public sector planning

You occupy a leadership role in a government MDA, that is, a ministry, department or agency. As a top public servant, you are deeply committed to strategic plans which make a big difference. But as you look to accomplish a meaningful contribution, it’s easy to get sucked into bureaucratic compliance.

How can you have the impact you really want?

Many outsiders to government who have glimpsed the hundreds of pages of planning guidelines sent to MDAs are right to ask: How does anything get done? As someone who has offered strategic planning services to organisations in Jamaica for more than two decades, I understand.

Obviously, the authors are well-intended. And the contents are a result of hard work. However, a lot of good ideas sometimes don’t add up to a single great idea. Such is the case with the instructions MDAs receive to complete their corporate business plans.

Consequently, it is easier for recipients to surrender and comply without resistance. The truth is, it’s difficult to do anything beyond the minimum when being closely watched by a demanding permanent secretary.

Unfortunately, this approach falls short in capturing the awe-inspiring and influential nature of strategic planning. What can you as a managing director, CEO or director general do to create plans which transform our island’s fortunes? Here are a couple of strategic planning frameworks to adapt that probably aren’t mentioned in any official documents.

Engaging employees, stakeholders

Your organisation’s strategic plan can be much more than a document intended to cling to the status quo. On the contrary, it represents an opportunity to articulate a faraway vision of the future.

This was the same idea behind ‘Vision 2030’ conceived 16 years ago. However, with five years left to its conclusion, few Jamaicans remain inspired. Instead, the government’s bureaucracy has taken over. What’s left? Short-term targets which seem far out of reach.

But pay attention to the original intent. The goal was to inspire our citizens with a grand concept. In summary, the framers envisioned a Jamaica which would be everyone’s No. 1 choice to live in.

This was a brave picture of the future, even amidst the recession-induced cynicism of the day. It was meant to be transformative.

In the time left, as a government leader you need to go further in your thinking. If you seek to meet the needs of Jamaicans, you must think past the target year of 2030.

Recommended: in your next strategic planning exercise do more than comply. Instead, go for a pre-emptive, game-changing strategic plan that has a life of its own. If it’s big enough, it could help you fulfil our citizen’s dreams, while attracting the best minds, bravest souls and hardest workers to your side.

In other words, if your strategic plan is an opportunity to do great things for the most-needy, you could be on the right track. It’s likely that they have been longing for a vision. They are looking to you for leadership.

But don’t stop there. Some of your employees are willing to do more than ‘get paid for a wuk’. Here’s your chance to engage them as well.

However, if you find that being aspirational and visionary still isn’t enough, I’ll share another approach that’s a bit more immediate.

Handling threat zones

As an expert in your field, you anticipate emerging trends. While they are invisible to the average Jamaican, you have strategic foresight.

More importantly, you are able to imagine where small threats combine with others. Together, they create a situation where fresh havoc is likely to occur: a threat zone.

COVID-19 serves as an example. New Zealand, South Korea and Vietnam anticipated a pandemic.

Similarly, leaders in your MDA can perceive impending threat zones. As they approach, you are compelled to do something. The ideal response? Develop a pre-emptive, game-changing, long-term strategic plan.

For instance, there’s a meme going around stating that this year is likely to be the coolest one for the rest of your life. The number of hot days and months is only growing.

In a short time-frame, you can only do a little to prepare Jamaica for this eventuality. But if your strategic plan were to include outcomes in a far future like 2055, you could do a lot more.

The good news is that if you take this advice, you’ll be prepared in advance for whatever national vision replaces the current one. This is a bonus. Your proactivity will serve our citizens and inspire your team to do some big thinking.

This should rescue them from the tendency to barely comply. The time is ripe for leaders to begin practising the kind of selfless strategic foresight Jamaica needs.

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Francis Wade is a management consultant and author of Perfect Time-Based Productivity. To search past columns on productivity, strategy and business processes, or give feedback, email: columns@fwconsulting.com